And We're Off! (with the rest of the photos)

 Thursday,  November 9, 2023

Up in time to stretch and shower and do the last-minute straightening and still be ready when the Uber arrives! It's a Tesla!

Moxie guarding her treat!

And. the driver is quite a trip!   He is blindingly successful and has done everything to hear him tell it.  And we hear him tell it all the way to the airport!  But he gets us there safely and in good time so we are grateful.  But we're pretty sure he drives an Uber in retirement because his wife needs the peace and quiet at home and he needs a new audience every trip!

There has been an accident that snarls traffic.  The entire engine fell out of this Chevy!

View through the Tesla's sun roof from the back seat

Because we are flying a hybrid of United and Air Canada, we can't check in until we get to the airport.  It looks easy enough to use one of the kiosks; but, alas, 'tain't so!  The attendant who tries to help us gives up after the third kiosk goes belly-up and she takes us to the counter.  That goes well until Nick notices that we didn't get our TSA pre-check, so she has to reprint all our boarding passes, of which we each have three. Then we move down to another person to check out bags.  They are checked all the way to Rome, so that's a relief!

Security is a breeze and we go in search of a place for a leisurely breakfast.  We find Atlanta Stillhouse and everyone gets the breakfast sandwich on a croissant with bacon.  Not a virtuous dietary choice, but the first two flights are short and we probably won't get fed.  And the layovers are short, so there's no hope there, either.  Good thing I brought Barbara's dried apples and Ginger snagged the left-over chicken from last night!

But it sure was tasty!

Our flight to Newark boards on time and I've got my window seat, so I'm happy. The movie selection is quite limited.  I think there are eight!  I dip in and out of "Red, White, and Royal Blue" and there are two handsome guys to ogle and a passionate speech about queer rights and the right to privacy.  I don't get to see the end;  but I'll live!  The treat is a chocolate quinoa crisp which is small but crunchy and chocolate and I think I read that the company is woman-owned and concerned with renewability. And we get a cup of water;  but I can see it being poured from a bottle, so that's good!

(The photos are waiting to upload to the cloud!? And the above paragraph is just misbehaving!!) 

When we get to Newark we discover that the stalls in the ladies' room are all wallpapered in a forest scene! And we can see the city lightly shrouded in smog.

The gate attendant told us our next flight left from C101, which is different from our boarding pass, so it's good that Nick asked!  We ride the shuttle bus to terminal C and walk to C101.  Just for giggles we check the board and find that it's not C101, but C72!  Happily it's not to far back along the way we came and we still have plenty of time! Nick gets some Mexican and Ginger is having chicken wings.  I'm still full from breakfast!  I hope I don't regret not eating as the day wears on!  There's still a lot of flying to go.( I gave in and had one of Ginger’s wings and lots of Barbara’s dried apples!

On our way again!  One more United flight, this time to Toronto and the highlight is the sunset!  There are no video screens so I’m glad I’ve got my book.  We are offered a snack and I go for the savory one this time and a cup of water.

                                                      Toronto is such a pretty airport!!

The landing is so smooth!! And transiting to the next gate is, too!  Just stick your passport in the machine, show your boarding pass and find your gate.  We had been fretting because there isn’t much time between planes;  but we needn’t have worried.  We’ve got time to write and email (except the WiFi doesn’t work here, either) and whatever else it is that Nick’s gone off to do! I’m exploiting the virtues of Text Edit - Thank you, Betsy!  If all goes to plan I’ll be able to copy/paste this into the blog when we’ve settled in Rome!

Whoa!  The WiFi came back!  We're about to go back to the gate for the looong ride to Rome!

The Rome flight is a red eye of seven hours duration, so we get both dinner and a light breakfast. We've swapped our middle seat with a rather portly gentleman so we are all in the same row.  I watch four movies, since I can't ever sleep on a plane.  They were "Magic Mike's Last Dance (Lots of pretty boys who are great dancers, and a well written speech about queer rights and the right to privacy).,"Moving On" with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, "Book Club:  The Next Chapter with Jane Fonda, Ddianne Keaton, Candace Bergen and Mary Steenbergen, and "Cocaine Bear" ('nuff saidd!)

Chicken, couscous, bread and cheese, brownie, water, and red wine, thank you!

yogurt and a dessert bread with cherries

The Mediterranean as we approach Rome's airport

(It's now Friday, November 10th)

When we land we first go to baggage claim where Nick's suitcase isn't on the carousel!  Turns out someone had already pulled it off and left it over to the side! Then passport control where one of the policemen is giving a young man a hard. time because France is broke!! (Maybe we missed something?) We breeze through and finally figure out the taxi line.  Our cabbie is a woman! She finds our B&B with no trouble and. we press the button for someone to open the gate.

Our room is lovely and I have aa separate bedroom (no door;  but who cares!) We chat with our hostess about tomorrow's breakfast (spoiler alert -  she won't be making breakfast in time for us to leave at seven!)
and she recommends a restaurant right down the street for lunch.  We spend a few minutes getting reorganized and then set off to explore.  Our first stop is Al Cupolone Ristorante-Pizzeria where Nick has pasta ccarbonara aand Ginger and I split pasta with clam sauce.  It is actually clams still in their shells!  The pasta is buttery and divine.  If I hadn't eaten everything Air Canada put in front of me I could have had a serving of my own!

Cab fares are posted both at the cab stand and in the cab, so there isn't a question.

So many apartments!!

View from our balcony

Nick andd Ginger have both got Rick Steves' walking tour of the heart of Rome downloaded and we follow faithfully as long the the power lasts. There is a plaza that has housed a market place for centuries and it also has a statue to a monk, Bruno, who was thrown out of several different faith traditions for his radical thinking.  He said the Earth revolved around the Sun before Galileo!  He is still a symbol of rebellion and free thinking.  You can see two white columns that are all that remain of the temporary location of the Roman Senate, which is where Caesar met his brutal end. 

St. Peter'ss Basilica is visible from our B&B

A surprise treat of lemon cello and almond cookies, both made in house, when we pay our bill!

There's something ancient around every corner!

Posters for people missing in Israel

The Tiber runs through the heart of Rome

One of the oldest statues found.

The Four Rivers statue and one of the many Egyptian obelisks in the city

Yes, that's a palm tree!

We buy tickets (only five euros) to see the amazing inside of the Pantheon with its oculus open to the heavens. 

It's just so hard to wrap your mind around these ancient buildings being right in the middle of modern Rome!  Imagine what people were thinking when they started new constructions!

Even the floor is gorgeous, and this gives a feel for the
scale of the building, with statues to the gods of various religions
lining the walls, as well as an altar and several tombs.

My favorite is the Trevi Fountain.  Seeing it in pictures just doesn't give any idea of the scope and grandeur.  Of course there were about a million people all vying for the perfect tourist shot and visions of COVID danced in our heads.  But we did get to see it! 

And we concluded at the Spanish Steps, being mindful of the fact that sitting on the steps can get you arrested!

The view from the top of the Steps

During the last part of the tour it started to rain, but we all had rain gear, so no big deal.  We also stoppedd at a MacDonalds;  but before you scream BLASPHEMY it was just so I could spend a euro to go to the bathroom!  Money well spent!

We agree to walk back home and it is pretty dark by the time we return to our new favorite restaurant, this time for pizzas.  Ginger and I split a white pizza with porcini mushrooms and it is heavenly.  Nick has a red one with sausage and peppers.  And the beer is Birra Moretti La Rossa.

This may look like an ordinary pizza, but, believe me, it's not!!

By the time we get home we've logged 7.8 miles!  A little organizing, a little showering, a little blogging and straight to bed for the first time since Wednesday night!  We have to leave tomorrow morning between 6:30 and 6:45 for our tour of the Vatican!

Vatican City

Kismet

 Wednesday, November 8, 2023

We shared breakfast this morning with Daniel, the Mayan spiritual guide who will be conducting a ritual tonight at Ginger's house!!  He and Ginger conversed in Spanish and I find that that whole immersion thing really works.  I was able to understand more than I would have expected!  (Aside - how extraordinary that I just happen to be here for this event!)

After breakfast we went down to Ginger's fire pit to see if it would meet Daniel's needs.  He loves the location ans all the fall leaves;  but he did a lot of work on the pit itself to make it suitable.  He was finished and checking out Ginger's meadow when Helen arrived to take him to his speaking engagement at Georgia State.

The timing was great since we had a couple of errands to run before going to Emerson UU to watch David's class in their lantern procession.  He's in the 2-3 year old class and they were adorable processing in the darkened sanctuary with their self-made lanterns!  Elizabeth, Ben, Ginger, and I were all there to see him.

On to Home Depot to complete our tasks and then home for an impromptu charcuterie board lunch!  And now the fridge is clean!

They think it's a rainbow;  but we know it's the glyph for Tikal!!

Time to prep for the pot luck dinner and ritual...Ginger has lots of Guatemalan table cloths for all the tables and an electric leaf blower for the covered patio, so it's not too much trouble to get ready.

Just time for a quick lie-down when I realize we haven't checked in for tomorrow's flights! It's complicated because we are flying both Air Canada and United and we decide to just get to the airport extra early and Nick reserves an Uber for eight o'clock.  (Sure hope people don't stay late tonight!!)

We have practically everything done by the time the first people arrive!  The food table is in the sunroom and everyone will eat out in the "covered patio".

Harriet, being her usual regal self!

There are about fifteen or twenty people, some of whom I know either from Emerson or from Ginger's trips and everyone is welcoming and fun. And there is a ton of food and plenty of beverage choices so that when Daniel and Helen arrive they ccan fill their plates, have a leiisurely meal, and then go out to the firepit to get everything ready.  Presently we all follow suit and find places to sit around the pit.  

Daniel arranges the candles in the prescribed order and color, draws a circle, counter clockwise, with sugar and asks for leaders fo the church to stand behind specific candles and to light them in order.  Then the evening begins in earnest.  Daniel explains how important it is to live in harmony with Nature and to listen to, and talk with, all the animate and inanimate objects with which we live. Helen translates for him and does a splendid job.

Then the ritual, itself, begins.  Daniel calls on the grandmothers and grandfathers and each of the twenty energies to forgive us for the way we treat Mother Earth and to guide us and protect us.  Each energy is mentioned thirteen times, so that makes two hundred and sixty supplications, which happens to be the number of days in the lunar year.  It is an important and sacred number.

When the ritual is concluded there is time for questions.  I ask if it is dangerous to be a shaman in Guatemala now and Daniel says that it is in some parts of the country, especially in the small towns and villages where the Catholic church is all powerful.  In his own pueblo a band of men went up into the mountains and captured Daniel's brother and another man thinking they had Daniel.  Eventually they were released when Daniel's father pointed out their mistake.  But it doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened if it had been Daniel.

At the end of the evening, with the fire having burned down to embers, Daniel asked everyone to stand and he asked Ginger to make a statement of gratitude.  She was perfect!

Then it was back up to the house where everyone was asked to take home their leftovers, since we'll be gone tomorrow!  Clean up went pretty quickly and I think I'll be in bed by midnight!  With the Uber coming  at eight, it will be an early alarm!!

Stop Number One, Atlanta

 Tuesday, November 7, 2023

It's so great to have a friend that's willing to don her Uber hat and drive me to the airport!!  Thank you, Betsy! I hope the rent for your driveway doesn't go up any time soon!

From Tampa International to Atlanta is a short hop, but they still found time to give us little water bottles and a bag of Sun Chips Mimis, Garden Salsa flavor.

I walked part way to baggage claim so that I could see some of the gorgeous sculptures on display there. Here are a couple of examples.

By the time I got to baggage claim someone has already pulled my bag off the carousel so all I had to do was wheel it outside and meet Ginger, with Elizabeth and David!  He can say my name!  Then it was off to Taqueria del Sol for their famous corn chowder and a carnita taco before driving home.  Elizabeth has to work so we're keeping David for the afternoon.

At Nick and Ginger's house I meet Helen, a friend from Emerson who is working on her PhD and wrote her master's thesis on a location in Guatemala.  With her is Daniel, a professor from a Guatemalan university, who will be giving a talk tomorrow night on Mayan Shamanism and culture, right here at Ginger's house!!  I'm very stoked!

Helen and Daniel are going off to meet friends for dinner while we feast on Nick's creation. The aroma is amazing! Nick gives me a sample and it is divine!